Trevor Towers Revisited

Hi, all,

It’s Paul:

Hope we are all well.

Going through my R /L English SCP files I came across one headed:

Trevor Towers:  ‘Spanking Teacher Sent for Retraining.’

Sub heading: Science Master slapped girl of 14 on bottom ‘

I anticipated that the incident had not featured on our forum before, but a search told me otherwise. It was added on the 15th October 2008 by ‘Ketta.’
It never drew too much response at that time, but I did chuckle at ‘Steve M’s comment, quote:
“The girl sounds like a prissy little bitch who probably wanted it done in private and properly, and that’s what disappointed her.
I bet if he’d had a quiet word in her ear to the effect that if her bum was proffered like that, next time he’d have to smack it, the response would have been approximate to the title of John Alderton’s first TV series:-

“PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE, SIR!” “

***
Great stuff!!!

So with just over ten years gone by, and many members back then no longer contributing, and many new ones replacing them, I thought I’d revive it.
Yes, it’s just one slap and some members might well be thinking, “Why revive it, Paul?” Some, like Steve M, back in 2008, might think too much fuss was made about it at the time, or that the girl over reacted.
That is not my view and I find the incident most interesting. There are so many ways one can interpret it.

For me, it begs the question, was Trevor Towers a ‘spanko?’ Yes? No? Did he possess secret desires to spank girls at the school? Or perhaps he wasn’t a spanko, as we know it, and he acted like many hot-blooded males might in seeing a bottom bent over a printer.  Yes, common sense would suggest that you do not touch or indeed, slap, but most males would certainly enjoy the view and quickly extinguish their desires, especially in a school environment.  I’m going to assume she was attractive and thus, he might have got a rush of blood and acted on impulse. He was without question very foolish and, yes, it could have cost his career.

Perhaps I have one foot in the ‘Steve M’ camp when the report says, …..’the sobbing girl,’
I bet she wasn’t! But I like her quote: ‘

“I felt incredibly embarrassed he had done this to me in front of my classmates. I could feel myself turning bright red.”

Mmmm, yes, well, we might all wonder if her bottom turned bright red, too (???)

I do feel Mr Towers made a ‘clanger’ when the girl’s mother confronted him and said it was ‘harmless banter.’

One does wonder how many teachers of today hide secret thoughts about spanking girls’ bottoms?

Looking forward to your thoughts on this.
My newspaper cutting is from ‘The Daily Mail,’ 16^th October 2008.

Thank you.

Paul

Third link is a Trevor follow up.  When does a slap ever take two seconds?  A second would be closer to a second if you had to say Mississippi because of the number of syllables.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-signi … -and-so-on

Students still grab their ankles or touch their toes.  It is an unfamiliar and difficult position to hold.  The young lady here got cheeky with her teacher and jumped about and got 5 swats instead of three.  Embarrassment does play a factor when the room had teachers present. That’s embarrassing.

Two days after her paddling she thought wrongly the  pain would go away.  She was still bruised and sore.

https://instagram.fbed1-2.fna.fbcdn.net … .fbcdn.net

It is the most dreaded position because of it’s long term pain according practitioner that paddles models with two decades of experience.

Embarrassment does play a factor because as when another student tweeted that returning to class watery eyed and taking her seat was unpleasant for she knew everyone knew.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7671830.stm

Hi, American Way,
Its Paul:
Thank you so much for the follow up regarding Trevor Towers.

The BBC article is far better than the cutting I have.

I did chuckle when GTC spokeswoman, Jacquie Turnbull, said that the girl’s claim that she was made to feel humiliated and physically uncomfortable was not proven.

I do think Mr. Towers was foolish to suggest that it was just harmless banter, thus trying to mask the fact that he had slapped her.

Regarding the seconds to say ‘Mississippi,’ a friend of the girl said he held his hand on the girl’s bottom for a while after.

We were not there to witness it, but from what has been stated, and the reactions to it, the school had little choice but to sack him. But, with a seemingly unblemished 22-year teaching record, a chance to retrain was fair, in my view. But I simply cannot make my mind up if he was a ‘spanko’ or not. Was it just an impulsive act? And, had this incident been in a decade when SCP was allowed, would he have used it? What I’m angling at is could he have been a budding ‘Colin West?’

A very interesting case. Has anyone any thoughts? I’m looking forward to the thoughts of A..L. And Lisa Best? What would her reactions have been had a teacher done this to her……………..
PLEASE, sIr  May I have some more?!

More??????!!!!!!!

(Only joking, Miss Best!).
Paul

I think it’s first necessary to agree on what a spanko is. Is it someone who has a sexual fetish for spanking?

If so, then according to the World Health Organization which states: “fetishistic fantasies are common and should only be treated as a disorder when they impair normal functioning or cause distress”, then it can be considered normal to be a spanko.

In the case here, Mr Towers was accused of causing distress so his action may indicate that he has a disorder.

He may have had desires to spank schoolgirls (as many male teachers most likely do) throughout his 22 years of teaching but by not acting on these desires then he is not considered to have a disorder – even though he was a spanko.

To sum up then – it’s perfectly normal to be a spanko

…….as long as you don’t spank unless invited. 

Hello, Alice,
Thank you for your kind contribution.
Wonderfully put and absolutely right.
We cannot prove it, of course, but I tend to believe that he harboured some desires to smack schoolgirls, perhaps maybe not as sound punishment, but in a way akin to what he might interpret as a ‘bit of banter.’ And in slapping this girl his desires got the better of him and thus, he transgressed,
Thank you, Alice,
Paul.

Hi Paul,
Thanks for re posting the article. I remember reading, with great interest, about this case back in 2008.

Firstly I thoroughly agree with the view so succinctly put by Ms Ottley.

The gentlemen probably only suffered from quite normal healthy desires and I recollect thinking at the time had he really managed to restrain himself for the previous 22 years or was this a case where he had “got away” with it in previous instances.

What I believe he did suffer from was lack of judgment and a failure to understand the character and likely reaction of this particular young lady. Possibly a different pupil would have reacted differently. However what the case clearly did was to send a fairly clear message to teachers that slaps ,however playful were not acceptable.

I was acquainted with several members of the teaching profession in the the late 70s and 80s and it was certainly not a job for everybody and certainly not for the faint hearted. Some teachers found handling teenagers beyond their abilities and a challenge to their mental stability and sought different avenues of employment. You are completely “in the spotlight” for virtually all of the working day and,depending on your “popularity” any lapses or off days are likely to be taken full advantage of by the pupils. With official CP virtually removed from most teachers armoury from the late 1970’s, maintaining classroom discipline and good teacher pupil relationships and keeping the pupils respect was no easy task. There was indeed much verbal banter and occasional threats (which obviously would not be carried) but most pupils liked
(and,based on my schooldays memories always have) a teacher with a quick wit and a sense of humour which made lessons more enjoyable .

There was also sometimes light hearted physical contact which on paper was unacceptable but some teachers knew their pupils and what was likely to be acceptable. In this connection physical contact could take various forms from grabbing a pupil by the top of his or her hair and giving their head a light shake while threatening something improbable in a loud voice or a fit games teacher picking up a couple of 13 year old schoolgirls (one under each arm) and running with them as they were dawdling towards the back in a cross country run around school grounds. This was well talked about as something funny by most of the school.

Having said that, even experienced popular teachers can sometimes get it wrong ,or be unlucky. In a story, related to me in 1985, a popular teacher was subject to an official complaint for alleged threats made to a couple of “out of order” young ladies He apparently said that any more nonsense from them and he would be tempted to soundly “box their ears” and would probably put them across his knee to do it. There was light hearted banter to the effect that they thought Sir had some funny ideas where their ears were but it passed as relatively harmless teacher pupil humour. However another younger female pupil (not involved) overheard the conversation and duly reported to a parent who lodged a complaint. The school was, like most at the time,non CP. Due to the popularity of the teacher and support of pupils questioned during the enquiry ,no action was taken. I understand he was told by the headmistress to chose his words with more care when in earshot of impressionable younger pupils. I mention this as it illustrates the goldfish bowl position of teachers. In general this is of course a very good thing where children are involved but hopefully people will sometime see the bigger picture and not always assume the worst.

Oops another rambling post from me..apologies .

Mr Wilson incriminated himself by admitting that:

his hands brushed against top of her bra through her T-shirt and accepted his little finger may have just gone under the waistband of her jeans.

As a result of that admission he was found guilty of sexual assault HERE 

He was found not guilty of the sexual assault charge involving the slipper and also the sexual assault charge of fondling the girl’s knee during a car journey.

So if he hadn’t made the admission about touching the girl during the massage then it would have been the girl’s word against his.

I’ve never done jury service but it doesn’t sound easy?

This sounds like a marginal case and I suspect with better legal representation and advice he might have walked away from all charges. Because of the age of the girl and the fact that he pleaded not guilty there is a high possibility he would have received a custodial sentence Probably  9 to 12 months. Does anybody know what the sentence was?

I couldn’t find any follow-up so I guess it wasn’t big news.

Thanks for looking

Hello, both Alice and Sir John,

Thank you both for your interest in this thread and your valued comments.

I think the three of us are in unison regarding our thoughts on both cases.

Regarding Trevor Towers: yes, he controlled himself for 22 years and obviously had an unblemished teaching record. But I shall say it again, he simply must have battled with himself on occasion to control an urge to land a ‘smack(!!!)’ on a schoolgirl behind, or at least admire the view.( Is the word for that ogle?!}.  As Sir John alluded to, and I touched on, too, was he really any different from many, many other hot blooded males? I think if one is a ‘bottom man’ (like me!!!! LOL) then we might have been in many situations where we thought about landing a smack. ‘Thought,’ however, is the operative word. We might have ‘thought’ about it, but did not smack (as Alice said, ‘ …….as long as you don’t spank unless invited ).

My thinking is that on the day Mr. Towers saw the girl bending over the printer, the view presented to him must have looked so ‘smackable’ that, after 22 years, he could no longer control the urge and  landed a firm smack on her behind.

You’re correct, Sir John, that he clearly didn’t know the girl well enough, and I agree with you that there were probably girls in the school who he could have smacked and got away with it, with some treating it with levity, perhaps. But in this case, he clearly picked on the wrong girl. Furthermore, how foolish to smack her in front of a classful of other kids? Even if the girl had made light of it, the gossip would have spread. Thus, as I say, his urge must have been incredibly strong.
How did he think he could possibly get away with it and simply try to brush it off as, quote, ‘banter?’

Now, regarding our other friend, Mr. Wilson, rather like the aforementioned Mr Towers and his ‘banter,’ this chappy, too, played with fire. Like I said in my last email, I don’t think either mother or daughter were innocent in this case. Mr Wilson must have been a complete idiot. He privately tutored the girl from fourteen (almost fifteen) up until she was sixteen. Quite a long time. What in the name of sanity was he doing taking the girl shopping on the occasion of two birthdays? The golden rule in the UK has been for far too many years than I can remember that as a teacher, a sports coach, or private tutor, never find yourself alone with a pupil or athlete of the opposite sex and never have them in your car. So there he was going shopping with her. Did the girl fabricate that they were shopping for bras?

I can just, only just, get my head around Mr Wilson massaging the mother in the circumstances that he was at the family home to tutor the daughter. Perhaps he had a qualification in that field, but even so, even if they were two consenting adults then fine, but it does not mix with him being a home tutor. But where was the mother’s common sense in allowing him to massage the daughter? It’s obvious that such a situation will culminate in trouble.
Then we have the girl who allows the massage, too, just as it seems she allowed the taps with the slipper. She complains about his hands touching her bra through her top. With a massage it could happen. The question is if it was her back that was bad, why was he massaging her front?

As you say, Alice, He certainly incriminated himself

Now, Sir John, I must ask. Your profile image…..I hope,…… I hope, that it’s not of you in action?? LOL!

As an aside, where is my loyal deputy head, Mr. A.L?
Thank you,

Paul

Hi Paul
That is definitely not a picture  of me. If it had been,her underwear would have been keeping her knees warm!!! .

LOL

marathon8:

You have covered the situation very nicely in your post #12 and the FR comments indicate that he was a good teacher.

Of course these days it is considered completely inappropriate for a man to even whistle at a pretty girl let alone give her bottom a friendly smack! Many regard it as a sort of sex crime.

Some years ago many pretty girls would smile and take it as a complement (particularly in Italy) – what has the world come to?

Hi, members,

It’s Paul:

Thank you, again, Alice, and you, too, Sir John.

Continuing with my research into Paul Wilson, there was nothing I could see on Facebook, as I pointed out yesterday. But with reference to one school he taught at, Netteswell, although there was nothing on Mr Wilson, I did find reference to another teacher there called Mr Pollard. It seems that SCP was used a fair bit.

I shall indeed check the school that Trevor Towers taught at, which has since closed down. I shall do that tomorrow.
Off to bed now.

Have a read of the posts below. No references regarding girls getting whacked, however,

Paul.
*******
Keith Styles:
Pollard was a dirty perv, he used to watch us boys in the showers then as we exited he used to whack our bare arses with his size 15 plimsole , now days he would be arrested and struck off , as for Pitt he never taught me but there was something odd about him

Steve Weights
You were probably one of the, I don’t like sports or are no good at sports brigade. Mick Pollard was as straight as a ruler and called a spade a spade

Keith Styles
I know what I know, no matter if you liked or hated sports he wasn’t choosy .

Steve Weights
We will have to agree to disagree I am afraid. In my time I captained most of the school teams and Mike Pollard pushed me to be that person. Yes I was good at sports and he encouraged and pushed me to be the best I could be. I left Netteswell in 1972 and was a better man for the time and effort Mike Pollard and his team put into my teaching.

Keith Styles
U liked Pollard and Pollard liked you, im not telling lies about him , no more than you , its not a matter of disagreement but perhaps understanding another side to that bloke , one or two other people are saying similar on here as well , these things are kept quite .

Gillian Cornwell
My brother was excellent at football but not interested in rugby and Mike Pollard gave him a very hard time over that. He went so far as to tell me, his sister, when I helped with refreshments at after match games, that my brother was a nuisance!!  It just made me laugh . I guess if you wanted to ‘play the game’ he could be OK with you but he was a bit of a bully and I witnessed that to

Keith Styles
Tthanx for that post , quite a few on here seem to think im making it up . x

Gillian Cornwell
We do need to remember that teaching was different then and all that corporal punishment, chalk throwing, slippering was normal back then. It was military based (although I’m sure the military didn’t use physical violence on the squaddies) and most males including my husband who was schooled in London were physically reprimanded. Thank goodness Keith it doesn’t happen today  and sometimes we have to forgive our abusers.. It was a sign of the times.

Jadzia Weedon I know that there are former teachers who read these posts, so I should be careful about what you accuse them of.

Keith Styles
only telling the truth , would love to confront him

Jadzia Weedon
You may think your telling the truth, but it could have been harmless, and yes, in today’s world unacceptable. But it doesn’t make him a dirty perv. As for Mr Pitt, there was nothing odd about him, just your perception

Ray Day
Mr buck metal work he was a sadistic git ,mr Thomas geography always hit you on the head with a bloody great atlas book now he was creepy, mr dear always a scruffy git crutch of his trouser always by his knees and the evil bastard mr ball wow did he love whacking us wrong’uns with the cane .they were good days though sadly we have lost many school mates now
*****

Going back to Mr Towers, obviously he was completely wrong to playfully slap that girl’s bum, but I can understand the temptation. It might take a lot of will-power (or is that “won’t-power?) to hold back. Is it a risk worth taking to once in a blue moon “strike lucky? I may have mentioned this before (and no doubt someone will find it if I have), but some years ago, a met a new business client, a lady then in her mid-forties. We became quite friendly, still are actually, and we were having lunch together in a pub one day. After a couple of drinks our tongues were loosened and she started asking what other things I was interested in. I said, there is one thing that I couldn’t possibly admit to you. She persevered, and in the end I just blurted out, I like spanking, especially girls’ bottoms. Quick as a flash she replied, ooh, would you do that to me? And I did, a number of times over the next year or so. I just found the right person once in my life.

To prove my point, may I relate something that occurred probably 50 years ago, but may still be relevant today. A warning, it contains strong language, but I think is necessary to make the point. I was in a pub once overheard two young, late teens, lads talking. One said, “I make no bones about it, if I see a bird I like, I go right up to her and say ‘here doll, do you f**k?’ “. His friend replied, “blimey, I bet you get your face slapped a lot”. “Yer, but I don’t ‘arf get a lot of f**ks though!” Maybe we spankos should take a leaf out of his book and risk a few slapped faces!

My goodness me, Stujos, you did strike lucy.
Good on ya!
Thank you for sharing
Yes, like you I understand Mr Tower’s uncontrollable temptation.
Paul

…..And now, I await the thoughts of A.L on this thread with bated breath….and of course those of my sparring partner, Lisa Best.
Cant wait!!!………………………
Thank you, all
Paul

Paul, yes I may have struck her, but her name wasn’t “Lucy!!” Your keyboard skills are as good as mine! 

Special  ‘K’
YEP!!! I missed the ‘K’
LOL
Cheers
Paul

stujos:

I enjoyed reading of your wonderful relationship with your lady business client.

It makes a pleasant change from replying to private ads offering such services and before the internet it was all box numbers and including a SAE – what a palava that was!

Hello Paul,

Very sorry for my lack of input to this thread, it certainly wasn’t my intention to keep you waiting with bated breath.  Truth to tell I wasn’t much inspired to comment by Mr Towers.  A UK male teacher who slapped a 14 year old girl on the bottom in 2008, years after SCP became unlawful, can only be described as rather silly and deserving everything he got.   He’d have been on safer ground if he’d rugby tackled her clear of the printer and claimed that in his opinion whatever it was she was doing to the printer was putting her in immediate peril to life and limb.  Not a very suitable person to teach I think, and re-training was the absolute minimum of action required.

As for Paul Wilson, clearly a good teacher in the past, but one who at 67 was going a bit ga ga, or having far too many senior moments to put it more charitably.  As for the mother, contempt isn’t really a strong enough term.  The only one to emerge with even a minimum of credit is the girl who was so tolerant of her mother’s efforts to push her to educational levels possibly beyond her ability that even after complaining to her mother she was still prepared to put up with totally inappropriate behaviour from her tutor over a lengthy period.

Ahhhh, Mr A.L,…………….My loyal deputy head!!!
I hope I find you well.
Thank you for your thoughts which are very much appreciated. I can relax my breathing now!!!
Your feelings on Mr. Towers are similar to that of mine.  Either he joined Mr. Wilson in going ga ga, as you suggest, or, he had fought against desires to smack a girl’s bottoms throughout his teaching career. It must have been hard at times to suppress such desires, if he possessed them. Or perhaps I’m wrong and it was the presentation of the girl’s bottom bent over the printer that caused a rush of blood. Whatever his reason he most certainly picked on the wrong girl.  Idiotic to do it in front of a class, too.
As pointed out here earlier, I daresay there could have been girls who would have laughed it off…..and asa member said here years ago;
‘PLEASE SIR!’
You probably saw the slippering posts that I added in this thread relating to one of the schools that Mr Wilson taught at, but there was no mention of Mr Wilson using the slipper. But I do think the mother has a lot to answer for here. Yes, her mother was likely to be worried about her daughter’s maths and Mr Wilson was probably a good tutor. Thus, no matter what the her daughter’s complaints were, she was going to carry on with the tutorials.
But allowing her daughter to be massaged? The taps with the slipper? Allowing her to go shopping with him on the girl’s two birthdays.
The mother is very much the scoundrel in the affair!……….But a part of me thinks, the girl is not entirely innocent……..shopping for bras with her tutor……t
Thank you again, A.L
Speak soon,
Paul.

Hi Alice, glad you liked my post. We still meet for lunch sometimes. but I haven’t met her privately for some years now. Actually, last year I introduced her to another lady I originally met via the scene but has now become just more of a friend, with the result that she is actively trying to set herself up as a part-time professional submissive. This is mainly due to considerable deficiency in the financial department. Why work for only £25-£30 an hour when you can earn around £200 doing something you might enjoy more?

You are absolutely right about the “old days.” Pre-internet did make things more difficult to meet people. It was all magazine adverts, cards in phone boxes etc. The problem now is that spanking contact sites tend to get infiltrated by people of a “different persuasion.”

stujos:

Great that you’re still friends with her.

Ironically, even since I sent my last message, I’ve heard rumours about her that suggest it won’t be for much longer. C’est la vie. Are you available lol?!

 I’m getting old – over 70 now!

So am I, in fact went up another year yesterday! Age is but a number, it’s experience that counts. I feel like an 18 y/o, trouble is I don’t know where to find one!

Two more over 70s!  There was a time here when apart from Headmaster George who lived by a lake near a town with a church with a crooked spire I thought I might be some way ahead of the rest age-wise.  Not so now though!

Of course as those of us in this Forum today hopefully advance into the 80s, the 90s, and possibly even beyond like Headmaster George, who caned naughty schoolboys on the bare bottom during WW2  and was still posting here in his 90s – allegedly,  and Ms Joan Thomas of the Rodney School  who was still caning naughty schoolgirls in her mid 70s  we have a built-in advantage over the general population.  As it says  in ‘The rodiad’, an epic Victorian pornographic poem devoted to flagellation:

Delightful sport! whose never failing charm
Makes young blood tingle and keeps old blood warm.

Of course for maximum benefit from a sport active participation is the gold standard.  But even those like me who stand on the touchlines week after week giving support and encouragement and wishing they could play are said to enjoy some of the beneficial effects! 

Hi Paul,

Apologies for the delay in replying to your post# 18. I have been travelling around doing a lot of visiting over the past days.

I am not exactly sure what to make of Mr Wilson. I suspect he just may have been a little unlucky . Interestingly, his slippering activities did not in the end, lead to a criminal conviction ( he was only convicted on the massage count) and there seems to be no evidence that he slippered or gave other forms of CP whilst he was a teacher, although indications are that at least one of the schools he taught at allowed this. It is possibly relevant to take note of Gillian Cornwell’s comment that “chalk throwing and slippering was normal back then”

My personal theory, which is pure conjecture, is that Wilson, during his teaching years may have “wanted “to give CP but lacked the self confidence to do so; I will expand on this later. However, when asked to give private tutoring after his retirement to a young lady, and getting,so he claimed, some sort of authority from her mother, he dipped his toe in the water. I do not think there was any suggestion that he struck the young lady with any violence.
As you quite rightly infer it is important for teachers to understand their pupils likely reaction to CP.

Yesterday my wife and myself visited a friend and acquaintance of many years . Born in 1931 he has been a teacher all of his working life, retiring as a deputy Head. As he was some 13 years my senior I always admired his health and vitality and razor sharp wit and hoped I would emulate him in later years. Sadly a stroke last year has left him a shadow of his former self. His abilities are demonstrated by the fact that after retirement he was “head hunted” to take charge (at excellent remuneration) of a special unit dealing with young people with no incentive to learn . He set up a program which was much praised by his successors, teaching practical as opposed to academic skills. His view was that education was not merely about obtaining academic certificates but more about teaching young people how to make responsible decisions and think clearly in adult life. He understood that many people with quite modest academic achievements at school often went on to do very well in the real world.

I digress because because I believe he had a good grip on the usefulness of CP and its implications which of course was available to teachers through much of his era. FWIW he had strong views about the abolition of both CP and National Service, which he felt was a great error. His view was that CP definitely had it’s place but that to be effective it was imperative that the pupil had to both have respect for the teacher concerned and his or her judgment and also accept that the punishment was justified and deserved. An example he would give was that if a pupil knows that being caught smoking on school grounds leads to a caning if they are a boy or a soundly smacked bottom if they are a girl and they take the risk, they do so fully knowing the consequences . Plus of course they had to have respect for the teacher delivering it. And if the teacher was the sort to return the cigarettes with a warning that if they have to smoke, don’t do so on school premises, it’s likely that, despite a tingly bottom, that teacher would be “a good sort” in their minds.

I therefore believe that not all teachers had the kudos (if that’s the right word) to have a “light hearted” CP relationship with their pupils and those that did did not have to worry unduly about choosing the “wrong girls” . Taking Stuart’s theory a little further I believe that my first wife’s classmates were well aware that cheekiness and similar mild offences would earn them a bit of minor CP from a popular teacher but carried on knowing the consequences . Girls who did not to be so treated did not.

As stated earlier I do not think Mr Wilson had the rapport with his pupils as the teacher who slippered Saints.

I am glad you liked my re-telling of Saint’s slippering with her short skirt. This was a story my first wife and her giggled over quite a few times. I strongly suspect that, at the time, there was a deliberate attempt to embarrass the teacher and see how he dealt with it.

Hello, Sir John,

Thank you for an excellent response. I very much enjoyed reading through it.
I hope you enjoyed your travelling. That’s the beauty of retirement. Sadly, I’m not quite there yet, which angers me!
Your thoughts on Paul Wilson were interesting, but in the main, mirror mine. I was a little surprised that the complaint of the girl regarding her getting the taps of the slipper did not bring about a conviction. Little pats on the, quote, Mr Wilson, ‘top of her bottom,’ was not deemed serious enough. Being fairly recent, I would have thought it would have constituted to a charge of both indecent assault and common assault, knowing how our country is today. I know both safeguarding of children in education and coaching policies and child protection policies, quite well, and thus, I thought a conviction would be a certainty. It would be today, of that I have no doubt. Taking her shopping, especially for bras, would have landed him in a lot of trouble.

I guess the girl could have tried the, ‘he whacked me really hard,’ route?

But two things here: one she was not a consenting adult and, two: she was angered by it. And of course, the mother had initially said no. The mother was at fault for allowing it when the daughter said she was unhappy about it. Yet the motivational taps kept happening.

But my personal view is he was indeed unlucky, as you, too, point out, and, being a spanko, I would have liked to have read about him giving her real dose of the slipper as a motivation tool.

Yes, the posts I added from Facebook regarding one of the schools he taught at didn’t harvest any fruit about Mr Wilson, but the PE teacher seemed a bit of a beast!

Mr Wilson may well have used the slipper during his career, but perhaps kept it to a max of two moderate whacks and maybe he excluded the girls. But somehow I think not and thus, your view on this is a viable one. In jest, I guess, the mother said, I’ll go get a stick,’ I wonder if he took that out of context?

It was a nice story you told regarding your former teacher associate. My guess is that he must be about eighty-eight, now? It’s sad to read of his deterioration due to a stroke. Let us hope that he can enjoy at least some quality of life. From what you say, he seems to be an engaging and most interesting man. Prior to his stroke, I wonder what his thoughts were on education in the UK today, with state academies funded by private trusts (some dodgy one sabout, too, according to BBC 1’s Panorama!), the never-ending wars over the future of grammar schools, excellent GCSE and ‘A level results, with more and more teenagers going on to university. But moreover, his thoughts, now that some thirty-two years have passed since the ban on SCP. Who won the battle, those who wanted to retain SCP or those who wanted it abolished?

Very interesting that he was head-hunted after retirement to head a special unit to help kids with no desire to learn or become academics, with the core emphasis being on practical and life skills. I’m assuming he retired some twenty years ago. It’s interesting to read this, because if you look at the ethos of many schools, especially private ones, much of it is about academics not being the absolute driver, but that life skills; kindness , responsibility, and the environment, are as important.

He held very interesting views on the use of CP in schools. Yes, a supporter, but he’s correct that just ‘whacking away’ served no purpose, with, under such circumstances, the same kids rebelling and coming back for more canings and the same parents complaining. I agree with his philosophy of ensuring all pupils knew the consequences of breaking school rules, such as smoking. Yes, pupil respect for the teacher carrying out the punishment and a clear acceptance and understanding why he or she was being punished was paramount.

I’m assuming that Stuart did cane pupils, being a deputy head? Did he only cane boys, or did he cane girls, too? I’m guessing not: you mention ‘soundly smacked bottoms for girls.’ Does this mean girls were exempt from the cane at the school in which he was deputy head? Who smacked the girls’ bottoms? An appointed senior female member of staff?  From what you say, it seems other teachers were allowed to use CP, also. Correct?

Of course, I’m going to assume that he taught/or held deputy headships at more than one school in his teaching career?

This was a most enjoyable post, Sir John. Thank you.

With my best wishes,

Paul.

Hi Paul,

Your comments regarding my some somewhat rambling post are very much appreciated.

I note that you look forward to retirement. If your’s is as half as happy as mine has been,you will be most fortunate; A much younger wife,able to retire with you, is a distinct bonus.

I appreciate that you (and probably others ) are always keen to glean “further details” but not a lot I can offer in this case.
Firstly Stuart had the opportunity to take a slightly early retirement (around 61 or 62 ) which, with the offer of good remuneration for the new position, was most attractive: So the unit would have been in the early 90’s . As you say probably well advanced as regards future educational thinking.

Stuart had a wonderful sense of humour and could also definitely be a bit of a wind up merchant. He did admit to “effectively whacking many a trouser seat” and I enquired whether he ,and teachers in general, had practiced on cushions , to hone on their accuracy and skills . His answer was yes and also ,if you were lucky, on the bottoms of wives and girlfriends. I suspect that his answer was probably tongue in cheek but demonstrates that he was not unsavvy to the implications of CP.

I am pretty sure he never had much to opportunity to use CP whilst a deputy Head . It was pretty much abolished in schools by the late 70s and early 80s. Before coming a deputy Head he obviously spent many years as a teacher. I find it hard to believe that he did not at some time discipline a female pupil other than rapping them on the head with his knuckles while giving them a good talking to. He also did this to boys and such a practice or either sex would of course not be permitted to day. He was/is , like many teachers of a certain age group , understandably reluctant to give precise details of CP administered in years gone by in case it was viewed in poor light, compared with modern “child protection” thinking but I clearly recollect him saying that the physical chastisement of girls required many things to be taken into account, especially the “personality and character” of the young lady involved and how she was likely to react. This is of course something already discussed in this thread.

In answer to your question, I do not think Stuart had any general criticism of modern teaching, other than the problem of the “difficult to teach ” being left behind which is a far from new thing. He was a firm believer in and advocate of streaming so that the achievers did not get slowed down and the slow learners did not get left behind. Come GCSE time he thought it was no disgrace to have one class with high level passes and another with lower grade passes but at least passes.

I will conclude with one of Stuart’s anecdotes, which may, or may not, be true. One of the schools he taught at, probably, later in his career , no longer used CP on girls. During class, some boys allegedly, raised the question of why, in these days of equal opprtunity, girls should have the privilege of not being caned or slippered and they were. Stuart posed the question of whether they the boys would rather have a quick whacking or have to write out a 500 work essay on Good discipline in addition to their substantial evening’s homework. This produced discussion during which one of the girls was asked the same question. Her response of “depends if I felt like it” apparently caused immense amounts of laughter. Certainly made me smile when related to me.

Hi, Sir John,
It’s Paul.
I hope I find you well.
That was an excellent conclusion to your post regarding Stuart. I thank you for sharing your memories with us at this forum, and I do apologise for not getting back sooner. Tad busy.

I do think schools nowadays are better equipped to support students who struggle academically, or, who are ‘difficult to teach.’ I do accept, however, that there are certain areas in the country where that is not the case and the situation is almost irretrievable.

Yes, streaming has its merits, and I’d generally agree with Stuart. Much would depend upon the intake of the school and the area.

Not heard of rapping the knuckles into the student’s head before. Interesting that.

Many folk here seem to suggest that SCP was vitally non-existent by the end of the seventies and early eighties. That’s not quite the case. Yes, ILEA had abolished CP-1977-1978, but not in many other areas until 1987. My collection of ‘Friends Reunited’ posts and ‘FB’ show that, as do the STOPP publications. Many girls got the slipper during the eighties and Leicestershire is just one example.

And boy, did I enjoy Stuart’s final anecdote: a nice little story of some boys in class asking why CP was no longer appropriate for girls. I liked the response Stuart gave by reversing the question which concluded with the cheeky girl saying ‘depends if I felt like it.’

May I ask why do comment that it may or may not be true? Is that de to his humorous nature?

Sir John, thank you kindly for this.

Best wishes,
Paul

Hi Paul

Glad you enjoyed my memories. I will try and come up with more in the not too distant future.At the moment I have an internet access problem.  See my recent post in ‘Lighter side”.

Re Stuart….yes a huge wind up merchant with a truly  wicked sense of humour. He once said he did not think caning of girls was a good thing and should definitely be abolished. But he then said that instead  a good bare bottomed spanking over the knee was much more civilised, preferred  and satifying procedure providing you did not hurt your hand. L O L

Hi Sir John
Wonderful!!!
Oh, I agree; a much more satisfying procedure
Yes, I look forward to your memories.
Hope the Internet connection is okay now.
Cheers,
Paul